Dialogue focuses on urban development, management policies

20:40 20/04/2017

The Ministry of Construction, in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN–Habitat), held a dialogue on urban policies towards a new urban agenda on April 20 in Hanoi.

Participants shared experience and made proposals on feasible urban development and management policies.

Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Dinh Toan said that his ministry is completing institutions and a system of legal documents related to urban areas to ensure synchronous development.

It also considers building the Urban Development and Management Law and a report evaluating Vietnam’s national urban policy.

Director of UN-Habitat in Vietnam Nguyen Quang said that the national urban policy must balance the demand for equal land access and sustainable environmental issues and effective land use in order to avoid binding agreements on land.

According to him, Vietnam is facing a challenge on land clearance and resettlement, land distribution and registration, together with complicated administrative procedures.

Therefore, it is necessary to define the role and legal responsibility of local authorities to ensure the feasibility of the policy, he said, suggesting the policy be in line with other development policy frameworks, including those related to energy, water, transport, and infrastructure.

The urban system in Vietnam has seen positive progresses over the past 20 years. Urban areas continue to play a core role in speeding up economic structure shifting and become a motivation for socio-economic development. Economic activities in urban areas have created millions of jobs for people nationwide.